1   Stephen Arnold ELSTEN b: March 1836 in Hamilton Twp., Warren Co., OH   d: August 24, 1907 in Lapel, Madison Co., IN Burial: Lapel Brookside, Madison Co., Indiana
..  +Martha Jane STUDLEY b: June 18, 1839 in Stony Creek Twp., Madison Co., IN  m: Abt. 1859 in Madison Co., IN d: March 28, 1881 in Harlan Twp., Warren Co., OH Burial: Goshen Cemetery, Clermont Co., Ohio
..... 2   John Wesley ELSTEN b: September 07, 1860 in Noblesville, Hamilton Co., Indiana   d: May 13, 1929 in Kings Mills, Warren Co., Ohio Burial: South Lebanon, Warren Co., OH
.........  +Mary Eliza "Lide" COLLINS b: 1863 in Pleasant Plain, Warren Co., Ohio  m: September 01, 1881 in Warren Co., OH d: 1942 in Miami Twp., Clermont Co., OH Burial: South Lebanon, Warren Co., OH
..... 2   Laura Alice ELSTEN b: August 09, 1862 in Fishersburg, Madison Co., IN   d: August 05, 1935 in South Lebanon, Warren Co., OH Burial: South Lebanon Cem., Warren Co., OH
.........  +John Wilson COLLINS b: February 02, 1861 in Lerado, Clermont Co., OH  m: July 29, 1882 in Warren Co., Ohio d: June 29, 1951 in South Lebanon, Warren Co., OH Burial: South Lebanon Cem., Warren Co., OH
..... 2   Myrtle "Mertie" ELSTEN b: Abt. 1864 in Fishersburg, Madison Co., Indiana
.........  +Charles CRAMER b: 1877 in Indiana  m: Bef. 1900 in Warren Co., Ohio
..... 2   Stephen Arnold ELSTEN, Jr. b: April 1866 in Noblesville, Hamilton Co., Indiana   d: 1945 in Ohio Burial: Goshen Myers, Clermont Co., Ohio
.........  +Micha BRANDENBURG b: May 1861 in Ohio  m: August 22, 1894 in Ohio d: 1937 in Ohio Burial: Goshen Myers, Clermont Co., Ohio
..... 2   Sarah "Sally" ELSTEN b: 1875 in Indiana
  *2nd Wife of Stephen Arnold ELSTEN:
..  +Elizabeth SWITZER b: August 1852 in Baden, Germany  m: July 16, 1882 in Clermont Co., Ohio d: 1936 in Lapel, Madison Co., Indiana Burial: Lapel Brookside, Madison Co., Indiana
..... 2   Harry Arnold ELSTEN b: November 22, 1883 in Murdock, Warren Co. Ohio   d: May 16, 1967 in Lapel, Madison Co., Indiana Burial: Brookside Cem., Lapel, Madison Co. Indiana
.........  +Herma G. CRITSER b: 1886  m: Abt. 1903 in Madison Co. Indiana d: 1970 in Madison Co., Indiana Burial: Brookside Cem., Lapel, Madison Co. Indiana
..... 2   Walter F. ELSTEN b: December 14, 1885 in Murdock, Warren Co. Ohio   d: September 10, 1932 in Madison Co. Indiana Burial: Brookside Cem., Lapel, Madison Co. Indiana
.........  +Kate McCLINTOCK b: 1889 in Indiana  m: January 10, 1910 in Madison Co. Indiana
..... 2   Nellie ELSTEN b: September 16, 1888 in Murdock, Warren Co. Ohio   d: in Noblesville, Hamilton Co., Indiana
.........  +Harley SHOAF b: Abt. 1885  m: August 29, 1908 in Madison Co. Indiana

Stephen and his brother Paul worked in their father's blacksmith shop as young men in Warren County Ohio and later after 1856, in Noblesville and Fishersburg, Indiana.  After Stephen married Martha Jane Studley, they had their five children, and in 1879,  moved to Ohio.  When Martha died in 1881 of meningitis, Stephen married Elizabeth Peacock, nee Switzer, a young widow with a daughter Lula Jane and a son Willie. They  had three more children, Harry, Walter, and Nellie, before  moving  to Lapel, Indiana.  At the time of Laura's 50th wedding anniversary in 1932,  Stephen Jr. was living in Hot Springs, Arkansas;  Mertie was Mrs. Charles Cramer living in Lebanon; and John had died.  Stephen was a member of the United Brethren Church, but attended the M.E. Church in Pleasant Plain, Ohio with Martha while she lived.  He was buried from the Brethren Church in Fishersburg.  The Church is now in Lapel.

After Stephen's second marriage he began to use his middle name, Arnold, and appears that way on the census.  That is also the name on his gravestone.  His second wife was fromerly called Libbie but became Lizzie after her second marriage.

Martha was born one year before her pioneer father bought a log cabin and farm land in what is now Lapel, Indiana.  There she lived until Datus built the first real house within the Lapel limits. Shortly after the James Lewis Elsten family moved to Lapel, Martha married Stephen Arnold Elsten.  While her children were babies the Civil War was being waged, three of her brothers joined the Union Army and fought in the South in Indiana units.  Her parents had lived in Richland [now Ashland] County Ohio before moving to Indiana, and her husband was also born and raised in Ohio.  In 1879 they took their four teen agers and four year old daughter to Pleasant Plain in  Warren County Ohio to live.  However, Martha was not to live long.  Two years later she died of meningitis.  Her son John Wesley Elsten married Lida Collins later that year (1881), and the following year daughter Laura married Lida's brother John Wilson Collins.  Stephen remarried in 1882 also.

Elizabeth "Libbie" Switzer, born in Baden, Germany, arrived in New York as an infant.  After the births of brothers Christian Jr. and Jacob in New York, the family moved to Wisconsin where sister Mina was born in 1860.  The family then moved to Goshen in Clermont County Ohio and worked a farm.  Elizabeth married William Peacock and had two children before the father died. After residing with her parents for a few years, Libbie married Stephen Arnold Elsten and had three more children.  Stephen had five children of his own, two of whom were already married.  Only Sally was still a child.  The family moved to Lapel, Indiana before 1900.  Stephen died in 1907 leaving "Lizzie" a widow for the second time.  She was very popular in Lapel as Aunt Lizzie Elsten.